Halloween.....what a strange holiday. As a kid, heaven. A chance to show off your creativity and eat endless amounts of candy. As an adult, just an excxuse to be someone other than yourself for a night, and have some fun doing it. But Halloween has created some funny memories for me. Some highlights of my Halloween career:
- My first few years in costumes I believe were as either a clown or possibly a sheep. Maybe a tiger. I could be way off base here - I don't really recall most of my childhood - but I remember being a clown. And a tiger. And a ghost. Or something.
- One year, my mom dressed my brother and I up as girls. Sisters. Ha. Ha. Very funny. We were convincing though - fooled my Uncle Chris, he had no idea who or what we were. Mom putt makeup on us, ear rings, leggings, the whole deal. It was humiliating, as I look back on it...but I'm sure created some laughs around the neighborhood!
- One year I was a witch's hat..............yes, just the hat. I'm pretty sure it didn't have arms, which made trick-or-treating confusing and difficult. Props to Mema for creating that outfit, though!
- Another year my friend Em was Garth from Wayne's World...we still laugh about that one. I think his sister was a black Jamaican hippie that year....
- A classic outfit one year, as my mom just reminded me via Gchat this morning....we were CALIFORNIA RAISINS. You remember..."I heard it thru the grapevine..." I bet you've never been one of those!! Mema, again, on the outfit creation. She was brilliant.
- In college, I was slightly more sophisticated....I was Steve Irwin, aka The Croc Hunter. It actually was a pretty dang good outfit, if you ask me. It was replete with a puppet crocodile and a rubber snake around my neck. And reeeeallly short shorts.
- Our neighborhood was pretty sweet for trick-or-treating.....a few houses went all out. My neighbor - Jim Litchfield - grew these pumpkins that were big enough for me to fit IN TO until I was about 7. They were HUGE. And he carved them with these elaborate patterns, it was amazing.
- Then there was the guy who never gave treats...............only tricks.
- Andrew Elliot's parents always did this haunted house thing on their front porch, and it legitimately scared me until I was like 16.
- Dentist's never give good candy.......Litch, are you listening??? NO MORE TOOTHBRUSHES PLEASE. VERY FUNNY.
- Then of course, anyone who has lived in Salem has been to the infamous, world famous, Deaf School Haunted House. You talk about being scared......I am still scared when I take my cousins there. It is like 20 minutes long, winding all the way thru the basement of the cold, deaf school on Cherry Ave. People are popping out of no where all the time, and this creepy vampire guy follows you thru the whole thing...sometimes he is silent, sometimes he runs thru your group and pulls people and screams and yells.....freaky. At the end this deaf guy chased you with a fully functional and working chain saw until you couldn't stand it any longer. He chased us all the way to our car one time.
That about sums up my Halloween memories....anybody have any funny ones?? Feel free to post them! I'd love to hear some great outfits or stories....enjoy the weekend. I'll be going to my very first Appalachian State football game!! KICK APP, as they say around here.
10.28.2008
Global warming my butt!
Let me be honest - it's freezing in Boone. October 27, 2008, first snowfall. It started flurrying yesterday about 6 PM, and we woke up this morning to a snow covered ground and cancelled school. I wish they cancelled work when it snowed, but I have no excuse since I work from my house. Which reminds me - I figured out the heat issue. It is now working. I don't have to use the stove anymore. However, when then wind blows really hard while I'm working, I can feel the cold air coming thru the cracks. Needless to say, when I leave the heat off at night (every night) the mornings are frigid and brutal. Anyway, sometimes I naively think that Global Warming is a bunch of crap when I hear that it snowed in Bend on Oct 9th, and in Boone last night. And when I hear that the Ice Caps in Antartica had their least amount of melt the last two years than the last 5 combined...or something like that. But then Ashley yells at me and makes me realize that is actually is an issue...and she's right. I've discovered she's right a lot. I'm just bitter than it's cold.
In other news, Ashley and I carved pumpkins last night. I won the speed round - taking the top off, taking out the guts, feeling proud - and she won the style round. Hers was clearly better than mine, which doesn't surprise me because I picked a design WAY too hard for me and got annoyed that it was taking me well over 2 hours to finish the stupid thing...so I cut corners and finished and now it truly looks scary because of how bad it looks. Suffice it say I am going with an easier, less ambitious design next year. (Pictures below). She is a perfectionist. And it paid off. She wins.
Last weekend Ashley and I headed to Windy Gap, a Young Life camp in North Carolina. It was a weekend of nostalgia for me. I realized how much I love YL camps and how much I believe in their mission. I always think to myself, Wouldn't life be easier if I just moved to a YL camp and lived there? Sometimes I think it would, but I realize that is not what I am called to do. Anyway, we were "AM Cooks", which meant we cooked and prepared and served breakfast and lunch to the servers, who took it out to the campers. The hours were 6 Am til about 2:30pm or so in the afternoon...maybe taking 15 minutes for breakfast and lunch. Basically.....brutal. But somehow no one seems to care or mind that they are tired and their feet hurt and they smell like bacon and hotwing sauce. They just keep going, keep serving food to serve the Lord in serving kids. It is amazing. We would serve 500 people per meal like it was no sweat off our backs. The campers have it good. It's like a resort - 5 star dining, swimming, frisbee golf, basketball, tennis, laughing, finding their "weekend fling", and hearing about God in a non threatening way. It's a great thing, and something I forsee myself being a part of in some way or another for a long time.
Random thought...I get to see my best friend John Olinger play a basketball game tonight. It is their first game of a 3 week or so tour. It will be a little bit of a trek - about 1.5 hours - but well worth it!
That's all from here...thanks for reading, sorry for the time in between...I got blogger's block. Hopefully that doesn't happen again!
In other news, Ashley and I carved pumpkins last night. I won the speed round - taking the top off, taking out the guts, feeling proud - and she won the style round. Hers was clearly better than mine, which doesn't surprise me because I picked a design WAY too hard for me and got annoyed that it was taking me well over 2 hours to finish the stupid thing...so I cut corners and finished and now it truly looks scary because of how bad it looks. Suffice it say I am going with an easier, less ambitious design next year. (Pictures below). She is a perfectionist. And it paid off. She wins.
Last weekend Ashley and I headed to Windy Gap, a Young Life camp in North Carolina. It was a weekend of nostalgia for me. I realized how much I love YL camps and how much I believe in their mission. I always think to myself, Wouldn't life be easier if I just moved to a YL camp and lived there? Sometimes I think it would, but I realize that is not what I am called to do. Anyway, we were "AM Cooks", which meant we cooked and prepared and served breakfast and lunch to the servers, who took it out to the campers. The hours were 6 Am til about 2:30pm or so in the afternoon...maybe taking 15 minutes for breakfast and lunch. Basically.....brutal. But somehow no one seems to care or mind that they are tired and their feet hurt and they smell like bacon and hotwing sauce. They just keep going, keep serving food to serve the Lord in serving kids. It is amazing. We would serve 500 people per meal like it was no sweat off our backs. The campers have it good. It's like a resort - 5 star dining, swimming, frisbee golf, basketball, tennis, laughing, finding their "weekend fling", and hearing about God in a non threatening way. It's a great thing, and something I forsee myself being a part of in some way or another for a long time.
Random thought...I get to see my best friend John Olinger play a basketball game tonight. It is their first game of a 3 week or so tour. It will be a little bit of a trek - about 1.5 hours - but well worth it!
That's all from here...thanks for reading, sorry for the time in between...I got blogger's block. Hopefully that doesn't happen again!
10.22.2008
Jimmy and other thoughts
Jimmy (my car - see picture below!)) finally got a license plate!!! Praise the Lord. Jimmy is now an Oregonian with Boone stickers all over him. I spent the last 10 days evading the Boone Police Force, SWAT team, State Troopers, and App State security guards. NO TICKET. It really was an unbelievable performance. I would be driving - no place or temp tag or anything - and see an officer and immediately turn on the nearest street and drive really fast. There were times when I honestly thought that the town was out to get me. Here are some examples:
- I am sitting at Espresso News, two cars get in a fender bender in the parking lot, call the police. The police person pulls up directly behind my car - I am watching this from the inside - gets out, looks at my car, and moves on!
- Car breaks down in the parking lot of my apartment, calls the police (for some unknown reason). Policeman does not notice my car sitting 3 feet from him with no plate on it!!
- Traffic jam on King Street (aka Main Street). Moving 3 MPH, Police officer at EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION directing traffic. I drive by at least 8 officers, look the other way and pretend like I'm waving at someone, and somehow none of them noticed the empty plate or cared to call a buddy about it.
I'm lucky I tell you. Stupid, but lucky. But now I'm official!
Other random thoughts from this morning:
- Wine to Water - a non-profit here in town. Check them out. winetowater.org. They are an amazing organziation that is fighting the poor water epidemic in suffering countries - mainly Uganda and Cambodia. They build and dig wells to provide clean water to these communities(poor, unclean water accounts for nearly 75% of illness or death in those countries), and are currently working to build a water filtration facility in Northern Uganda. Each filter costs $100, and provides clean water for about 5,000 people and lasts at least 10 years with no maintenence. It's amazing what a simple $100 can do......hint hint....
- Heading to Windy Gap - it's North Carolina's Young Life camp - this weekend to do Work Crew. My old boss Ben Lambeth from Crooked Creek in Colorado now lives about an hour from Boone (we've hung out a few times and it has been great!). He asked Ashley and I to head up there with him for the weekend to work in the kitchen...can't wait!
- Newest favorite TV show - Biggest Loser. Great message, great results.
- I'm reading Don Miller's "Searching for God Knows What" currently, and it is great. It is all about how Christianity is a relational religion, not a set of rules and regulations. It is about Jesus walking around relating to people, and that He still does that today...thru the Bible, thru chuches, thru Young Life leaders, etc. Needless to say, I am digging it.
That's about all I have for today...enjoy the sun while it is here!
- I am sitting at Espresso News, two cars get in a fender bender in the parking lot, call the police. The police person pulls up directly behind my car - I am watching this from the inside - gets out, looks at my car, and moves on!
- Car breaks down in the parking lot of my apartment, calls the police (for some unknown reason). Policeman does not notice my car sitting 3 feet from him with no plate on it!!
- Traffic jam on King Street (aka Main Street). Moving 3 MPH, Police officer at EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION directing traffic. I drive by at least 8 officers, look the other way and pretend like I'm waving at someone, and somehow none of them noticed the empty plate or cared to call a buddy about it.
I'm lucky I tell you. Stupid, but lucky. But now I'm official!
Other random thoughts from this morning:
- Wine to Water - a non-profit here in town. Check them out. winetowater.org. They are an amazing organziation that is fighting the poor water epidemic in suffering countries - mainly Uganda and Cambodia. They build and dig wells to provide clean water to these communities(poor, unclean water accounts for nearly 75% of illness or death in those countries), and are currently working to build a water filtration facility in Northern Uganda. Each filter costs $100, and provides clean water for about 5,000 people and lasts at least 10 years with no maintenence. It's amazing what a simple $100 can do......hint hint....
- Heading to Windy Gap - it's North Carolina's Young Life camp - this weekend to do Work Crew. My old boss Ben Lambeth from Crooked Creek in Colorado now lives about an hour from Boone (we've hung out a few times and it has been great!). He asked Ashley and I to head up there with him for the weekend to work in the kitchen...can't wait!
- Newest favorite TV show - Biggest Loser. Great message, great results.
- I'm reading Don Miller's "Searching for God Knows What" currently, and it is great. It is all about how Christianity is a relational religion, not a set of rules and regulations. It is about Jesus walking around relating to people, and that He still does that today...thru the Bible, thru chuches, thru Young Life leaders, etc. Needless to say, I am digging it.
That's about all I have for today...enjoy the sun while it is here!
10.20.2008
The 31st Annual Woolly Worm Festival!!!
So I woke up on Sunday and I could see my breath for the first time............IN MY APARTMENT. I kid you not - it was that cold. I immediately tried to turn on the heat, and thus far has not produced any. So I turned on all 4 stove tops and that worked temporarily until I felt like I was going to burn the place down. Next attempt: the oven? Wear gloves permanently? Sleep in jeans and my Patagonia? Or maybe I should just talk to the landlord..........
In other news, Ashley and I went to the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, NC. Have you ever heard of a Woolly Worm? I hadn't. I bet you've seen one though - they are brown and black and fuzzy and crawl around on leaves and on the pavement sometimes. Well every year (31st Annual) they have a festival to celebrate this worm. And at the end, the winning worm predicts the weather for the next 13 weeks. Allegedly they have, so far, an 87% success rate. Who knew?? Here's how it goes down.
They have this huge stage, and it has 25 racing spots. Each 'racing spot' consists of: a place for a name plate. Each woolly worm of course has a name. Some of my favorites: R2D2, Zippo, Arwoolly Edwards (you'll only get that if you live in Boone), Paul, Ichabod Crane, C3PO, Rainbow Wormier, and Slick. Anyway, below the name plate is a 5 foot long string. The goal of the race is for your worm to beat all other worms UP the string to the "finish line". It costs $5 and you can race as many times as you want. Also on the stage is an announcer - like the announcers that you see at the Fair that announce the Clown water baloon gun shooting race, or the rubber ball horse race, you know what I'm talking about. They announce loud and fast it make it way more exciting than it really is. On top of that there are 2 judges with whistles that let everyone know who the winning worm is. It is amazing! Each heat winner moves on to the next race, and the over winner receives $1,000 cash and the chance to predict the weather! To give you the scale of it...last year there were around 2,500 racing worms. It's unreal. And it's 2 days long. My friend Kirbi's worm last year got on the string and went the wrong way - down instead of up. Happens all the time.
Needless to say, it was hilarous and fun. I took pictures, and will try to post some somwehere on this thing. Keep checking back! Until next time and more experiences, have a great day!
In other news, Ashley and I went to the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, NC. Have you ever heard of a Woolly Worm? I hadn't. I bet you've seen one though - they are brown and black and fuzzy and crawl around on leaves and on the pavement sometimes. Well every year (31st Annual) they have a festival to celebrate this worm. And at the end, the winning worm predicts the weather for the next 13 weeks. Allegedly they have, so far, an 87% success rate. Who knew?? Here's how it goes down.
They have this huge stage, and it has 25 racing spots. Each 'racing spot' consists of: a place for a name plate. Each woolly worm of course has a name. Some of my favorites: R2D2, Zippo, Arwoolly Edwards (you'll only get that if you live in Boone), Paul, Ichabod Crane, C3PO, Rainbow Wormier, and Slick. Anyway, below the name plate is a 5 foot long string. The goal of the race is for your worm to beat all other worms UP the string to the "finish line". It costs $5 and you can race as many times as you want. Also on the stage is an announcer - like the announcers that you see at the Fair that announce the Clown water baloon gun shooting race, or the rubber ball horse race, you know what I'm talking about. They announce loud and fast it make it way more exciting than it really is. On top of that there are 2 judges with whistles that let everyone know who the winning worm is. It is amazing! Each heat winner moves on to the next race, and the over winner receives $1,000 cash and the chance to predict the weather! To give you the scale of it...last year there were around 2,500 racing worms. It's unreal. And it's 2 days long. My friend Kirbi's worm last year got on the string and went the wrong way - down instead of up. Happens all the time.
Needless to say, it was hilarous and fun. I took pictures, and will try to post some somwehere on this thing. Keep checking back! Until next time and more experiences, have a great day!
10.17.2008
Lists
So today is my birthday. Happy Birhtday Alex, thank you. I was in the beginning stages of being depressed about having another birthday - I thought that started happening around age 40 - and my brother told me I was being an idiot. So I stopped. I woke up this morning to a surprise on my doorstep from Ashley...BANANA BREAD. I love that stuff. I instantly wolfed down half of the loaf and started this day off right! So props to Ashley, that stuff was good!
That made me start thinking of my favorite birthdays...and no, I'm not going to brag, this is actually going somewhere. And then that train of thought lead me to "Lists". Top 5's. Favorite whatevers. So I am going to list some lists. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to chime in at any time.
Top 5 Favorite Birthdays:
- Golf at Crosswater with Em, Scott Taylor, and Andy Howard. Well, 3 of us golfed, and Taylor just sat in the cart and smoked cigars and drank beer.
- 21st birthday in LA. 4 parents, 1 brother, 3 great friends...and Betty White and Nancy Raegan.
- LAZER TAG
- Pendleton to Eugene to Black Butte in 1 day for 1 great weekend!
- 16th Birthday at that one place that our parents rented out for the 10 of us who had October Birthdays!
Top 5 Favorite Golf courses:
- Crosswater, Pacific Dunes, The Vintage, Sahalee, Pebble Beach (with Dad)
Top 5 Favorite memories with Em:
- Golfing at Hawk Creek in Neskowin in a torential downpour with Howard...and Em blowing the win on the last hole!
- Playing one on one to 200 points at McKinley...yes, 200 points. By 1's and 2's.
- Tennis at 2am at Illahe...epic battles.
- Ping Pong in his basement...calling timeouts (there are no timeouts in ping pong) and sweating so bad because of no A/C and it being 96 degrees outside
- Playing one on one BASEBALL. You'd think it's impossible, but not with Em and I. It was amazing.
Top 5 Memories with my brother:
- his wedding
- driving from LA to Salem in 12.5 hours. Left at 12AM, met Dad at McGraths downtown at 12:30 pm.
- playing tennis at Fairmount Park on those crappy courts
- NYC for Spring Break in 2004
- his visit to me while I was at Young Life camp in Colorado
Top 5 movies (I'll cheat a little on this one):
- Indiana Jones Trilogy, Scent of a Woman, Shawshank Redemption, The Goonies, The Little Mermaid
Top 5 Memories with John Olinger:
- Europe 2006, way too many competitive golf rounds at Illahe with Em and Wade, talking in Bend a few weeks ago, Palm Springs (twice I think), Work Week at Malibu
Top 5 Authors:
- Paul, Henri Nouwen, Donald Miller, Vince Flynn/James Patterson/David Baldacci (they are all the same, more or less), Roald Dahl
Top 5 Classes I took in college:
- Christian Marriage, Marketing (because of Professor Gerson, who was one of the only people on this earth who I knew that knew my Great Grandfather), Spanish 3 (again, the professor), Leadership and Entreprenuership, New Venture Finance
Top 5 Places I have visited (I'll brag on this one, sorry):
- Africa, Young Life's Malibu Club (Canada), Switzerland, Austria, Cuba
5 Best Places to eat in Bend:
- Baldy's BBQ, The Blacksmith, Longboard Louie's, Deschutes Brewery (only because of the Mac n Cheese), Croutons
5 Best Places to eat in Boone (so far):
- Chick Fil A, Black Cat, Char, Jimmy John's, Mellow Mushroom
Top 5 Places
Top 5 Memories with Mom:
- US Open in NYC, running/talking in Cape Town, finishing the Marine Corp Marathon (and all of the damn training runs and talk and everything that went in to it!!), San Francisco (what was that one broadway show we saw with Martin Short in it? Hilarious...), living mono e mono for 2 years at 1835 Alta View Drive
I guess I'll quit now...I could go on and on forever. I am sure all of you have great lists too! Feel free to post one or two of them in the comment section...would love to hear some thoughts on what your favorite things are! In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy birthday # 26. My mom already recounted what happened 26 years ago....for the 26th time. Enjoy the day!
That made me start thinking of my favorite birthdays...and no, I'm not going to brag, this is actually going somewhere. And then that train of thought lead me to "Lists". Top 5's. Favorite whatevers. So I am going to list some lists. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to chime in at any time.
Top 5 Favorite Birthdays:
- Golf at Crosswater with Em, Scott Taylor, and Andy Howard. Well, 3 of us golfed, and Taylor just sat in the cart and smoked cigars and drank beer.
- 21st birthday in LA. 4 parents, 1 brother, 3 great friends...and Betty White and Nancy Raegan.
- LAZER TAG
- Pendleton to Eugene to Black Butte in 1 day for 1 great weekend!
- 16th Birthday at that one place that our parents rented out for the 10 of us who had October Birthdays!
Top 5 Favorite Golf courses:
- Crosswater, Pacific Dunes, The Vintage, Sahalee, Pebble Beach (with Dad)
Top 5 Favorite memories with Em:
- Golfing at Hawk Creek in Neskowin in a torential downpour with Howard...and Em blowing the win on the last hole!
- Playing one on one to 200 points at McKinley...yes, 200 points. By 1's and 2's.
- Tennis at 2am at Illahe...epic battles.
- Ping Pong in his basement...calling timeouts (there are no timeouts in ping pong) and sweating so bad because of no A/C and it being 96 degrees outside
- Playing one on one BASEBALL. You'd think it's impossible, but not with Em and I. It was amazing.
Top 5 Memories with my brother:
- his wedding
- driving from LA to Salem in 12.5 hours. Left at 12AM, met Dad at McGraths downtown at 12:30 pm.
- playing tennis at Fairmount Park on those crappy courts
- NYC for Spring Break in 2004
- his visit to me while I was at Young Life camp in Colorado
Top 5 movies (I'll cheat a little on this one):
- Indiana Jones Trilogy, Scent of a Woman, Shawshank Redemption, The Goonies, The Little Mermaid
Top 5 Memories with John Olinger:
- Europe 2006, way too many competitive golf rounds at Illahe with Em and Wade, talking in Bend a few weeks ago, Palm Springs (twice I think), Work Week at Malibu
Top 5 Authors:
- Paul, Henri Nouwen, Donald Miller, Vince Flynn/James Patterson/David Baldacci (they are all the same, more or less), Roald Dahl
Top 5 Classes I took in college:
- Christian Marriage, Marketing (because of Professor Gerson, who was one of the only people on this earth who I knew that knew my Great Grandfather), Spanish 3 (again, the professor), Leadership and Entreprenuership, New Venture Finance
Top 5 Places I have visited (I'll brag on this one, sorry):
- Africa, Young Life's Malibu Club (Canada), Switzerland, Austria, Cuba
5 Best Places to eat in Bend:
- Baldy's BBQ, The Blacksmith, Longboard Louie's, Deschutes Brewery (only because of the Mac n Cheese), Croutons
5 Best Places to eat in Boone (so far):
- Chick Fil A, Black Cat, Char, Jimmy John's, Mellow Mushroom
Top 5 Places
Top 5 Memories with Mom:
- US Open in NYC, running/talking in Cape Town, finishing the Marine Corp Marathon (and all of the damn training runs and talk and everything that went in to it!!), San Francisco (what was that one broadway show we saw with Martin Short in it? Hilarious...), living mono e mono for 2 years at 1835 Alta View Drive
I guess I'll quit now...I could go on and on forever. I am sure all of you have great lists too! Feel free to post one or two of them in the comment section...would love to hear some thoughts on what your favorite things are! In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy birthday # 26. My mom already recounted what happened 26 years ago....for the 26th time. Enjoy the day!
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